Catch up

'Diabolical eyesore'

Imagine the views!

Ian Bell continued...

However, just like last week, when the Council were forced to back down on the Eastern Park and Ride, so this week Curo have thrown in their hand on the cable car.

And who could blame them ? Why should they have taken the pain for promoting a fresh piece of thinking, when another well organised and highly articulate minority were lining up against them?

Just look at the results of the survey for a moment. Across the City as a whole, 54% were either in support or undecided. But in Widcombe, which produced no less than 21% - a fifth ! - of the total responses, there were 86% against.

It looks as though message is clear. Any local community with a bit of organisation can stop progress and new ideas. That’s a sad situation for Bath to find itself in, and if it continues future generations will pay the price. Fewer jobs, sky high property prices. Is that seriously what protesters want?

15:14

Ian Bell - Bath Chamber of Commerce

Another week, another victory for a local pressure group, and another blow for the future of Bath, the city which likes to think of itself as “beautifully inventive”.

The Curo scheme for a cable car down to the centre from their new development at Mulberry Park was a creative solution to a transport problem which 90% of the people who took part in their consultation recognised.

It would have created a new commuter route and a brilliant tourist attraction.

Director of the Bath Chamber of Commerce Ian Bell

14:57

Long comment in support of cable car shared on Facebook

14:53

It's not for Jay

14:52

The community of Widcombe speaks out

13:34

Mark Shelford - B&NES' cabinet member for transport

My view is that whilst I encourage and support innovative and creative ideas to try to improve our congestion problems, it is clear that Curo does not have the public support for this idea.

We should now strive to come up with creative ideas to tackle the congestion problem in Bath.

Curo announcement in full

Claire Holloway

It’s a monstrosity. We’ve been given no information at all.

Cable car map

13:03

David Walters

This is such a crazy idea. It’s so ugly. You’d expect to see this skiing and they are huge. It look like they are going over Perrymead and Lyncombe Vale. That’s a huge number of houses that will lose their privacy. This is completely inappropriate.

13:02

What residents told us

We spoke to city residents at the Guildhall consultation back in March...

13:00

High profile figures backed the cable car

12:58

'A ridiculous idea'

12:53

Are we refusing to change?

12:51

'A joke from the start'

12:49

'Bath needs to think creatively and boldly'

Our hope is that our consultation has, at the very least, helped to create a dialogue across the city about the need for us to think creatively and boldly about the very great challenges we all face. We hope that others build upon it, so that we can come to a shared consensus about which beautifully inventive solutions we must all come to support.

- Mr Da Cunha’s statement was issued to the press at 12pm today, in line with the announcement.

12:47

More from Mr Da Cunha

While we’re not going forward with this idea, I believe the conversation can’t end here. Air pollution and traffic congestion is a substantial problem which will only get worse. As well as causing major health and economic problems, these issues will come to affect the city’s World Heritage status if left unresolved. My view is that it will take brave and innovative solutions, such as the cable car, to solve these challenges and that we all need to work together to tackle the problem and promote a positive, sustainable solution.

12:46

'Visual impact defeated cable car'

What’s crystal clear from the results is that people feel that Bath has significant traffic and air quality challenges.

Those in favour of the principle felt that a cable car would ease pressure on the city’s roads and that it was a forward-thinking scheme. However those against felt that the visual impact of a cable car on Bath’s World Heritage Site and the impact on nearby property meant that it wasn’t an acceptable proposal.

Curo chief Victor da Cunha

12:43

Decision labelled a "shame"

Do you agree?

12:43

Now that would be a sight

https://twitter.com/Muggsy14/status/887271826451296258

12:42

Short and sweet

https://twitter.com/64_Andrea_64/status/887273854607003648

12:40

Former Bath mayor weighs in

https://twitter.com/RogSymonds/status/887275178140610560

12:39

Mr Da Cunha continued

While there was a broadly positive response across the rest of Bath, and we have received many supportive messages from local people, businesses and stakeholders, we feel that we don’t have a sufficient mandate to press on to the next stage of the project, which would have been to showcase the design, route and indicative pricing structure for residents to comment on.

12:14

Curo chief Victor da Cunha

Here’s what the housing association’s CEO had to say:

While we remain convinced that a cable car could have made a substantial contribution to improving connectivity in the south of Bath - moving large numbers of people every day, quickly and cheaply, across one of the steepest parts of the city – it’s clear that this view is not shared by the majority of residents and, for that reason, we will not be progressing the project.

12:09

Breaking news

Curo announced at 12pm today that it has scrapped the cable car plan for Bath, after more than 50 per cent of respondents said they would not back it.

Here is one CGI of how a cable car pod could have looked...

The majority of respondents to the Curo consultation said they did not want the cable car